It has taken me a few days to organize my thoughts about last week’s violence in our Nation’s Capitol. I am heartbroken and deeply saddened that a percentage of Americans feel so profoundly frustrated by the outcome of November’s election that they would turn to violence to dismantle the processes of our democracy. I weep for the five families who lost a loved one as a result. I am appalled at elected leaders who disrespect the very process by which they themselves were elected and feed that frustration, rather than work to build back confidence in our democracy.

In a little more than a week, we will close one chapter in our country’s history and begin a new one. I am hopeful that the resiliency and optimism that have always been a hallmark of the American spirit will carry us forward as a people and as a nation. I believe in us. I believe the shared values that we live by – hard work, personal responsibility, and care for those in our community in need – will sustain us.

Ronald Reagan said it well: “Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is handling conflict in a peaceful manner.”

I believe in us, in the American people, and in the democracy we hold dear. There is more that brings us together than that which separates us. Let’s focus on that and lean into the good.